Light and Dark: Transitions
by lightvictorious
Summary: Sixteen year-old Lance Alvers feels like he was dropped into a random life. Looking around, he realizes he's different, but everything around him is meaningless. Searching for purpose, the used-to-be enemy joins his rivals.
1. Chapter 1

LIGHT AND DARK:

Transitions

Lancelot Falcon Alvers closed his eyes one last time, sucking in a deep breath. Even when the voices of his companions were silenced, everything else seemed to scream. The thunder outside of the window, stripped of its curtain, roared outside, occasionally causing the tall, unstable boarding house to tremble. The ceiling creaked. The rain pounded on the house.

A muffled laugh met Lance's ears through the floorboards. He heard Toad, the short but highly annoying mutant yell something absolutely random.

"Yeah, you owe me a turkey sandwich!"

After a moment of lying with tensed muscles, Lance shot up and chucked a slim pillow at the wall. "Ugh, that's it!"

He flung himself down the stairs, two steps at a time, dressed in an over-sized jersey and sweatpants.

He threw open the doors to the kitchen. Furious, he yelled, "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Toad, with his green eyes wide and dark sand hair a ruffled mess, mumbled, "Nice pajamas there, Lance. They look quite slimming."

Blob, the huge, blonde-mohawked mutant scoffed with Toad.

Instead of throwing something at them, as Lance yearned to do, he knew a technique that proved to be far more effective from past experiences.

At just a flex of his fingers, the ground began to shake. Quickly, the laughter faded. Lance exited as quickly as he had entered.

"Jeez, Lance ain't got no sense of humor!" Toad muttered, but loud enough to meet Lance's ears. Lance clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, but he was too tired to put Toad back into his place. Blinded by annoyance, he didn't notice Pietro, his albino roommate, charging down the stairs at full-speed.

These kids were a group of outcasts who were waiting for fame and fortune to hit. They were mutants, despised and misunderstood by many. They were enchanced with abilities no one had ever seen before, and people tend to fear what they don't understand.

"Ow!" Lance crumpled to the floor, tracing his ankle. "Pietro! Watch where you're going!" A burning sensation seered beneath his skin. Lance sucked in a sharp breath. "Yeah, didn't we have a rule that you can't use your power in the house?" He snapped, unable to bring himself to admit that his body was having a hard time coping with the collation, especially with how fast Pietro was going.

"Sorry, man. I just came down here to tell Fly-Breath and Blob to shut-it." He pulled Lance up.

Lance glared at the door with his piercing brown eyes. "Yeah, good luck with that."

He began to advance the stairs, but then he turned as though he had forgotten something. "And if you need any help," Lance flexed his fingers as though to hint towards his earthquaking abilities, "I can always give them a nice shaking."

Pietro nodded and ventured into the kitchen where Dumb and Dumber resided.

As he lowered himself back into bed, his ankle flared. He rubbed it slowly and winced with pain's sharp jab.

A long night's rest, even if it's a short one, will do my aching body some good, Lance thought, lowering his 5'6 frame back and allowing all one-hundred thirty-seven pounds to sink into the pillows.

Mesmirizing. Everything about her was absolutely mesmerizing! Her bright blue eyes, like an open sky, her sweet smile, her simple nature. Everything she was had Lance completely captured.

"Kitty!" A boy with shoulder-length black hair and a pale face that contrasted with his green eyes darted down the hall, excitedly waving his binder over his head.

Lance sighed and his eyes fell upon his own locker.

"Hey, Kitty!" Toad hollered. He nudged Lance, which was quite awkward, considering the fact that Toad was a half a foot shorter. His nudge hit Lance in the waist.

"Yes, Toad?" Lance asked, perturbed already.

Pietro and Blob quickly joined them and began to gather their things for second period, which Lance had with Kitty Pryde.

"I don't even know why you like her," Toad began, running his mouth once more. It was alright, because no one usually listened to him anyway.

"What are you talking about?" Lance asked, shoving a book in his backpack.

"This!" Toad grabbed the book. "I mean, really! She's so smart, and you're like, so dumb! I mean, come on, man, who's in this course in their junior year?"

Lance gritted his teeth and ripped the book from Toad's clutches. "What do you care?"

Toad grinned, showing his yellow teeth. "Hear that, guys? Lance likes Kitty!"

Lance zipped his bag and proceeded to walk away, refusing to allow Toad to get to him.

"Here, kitty-kitty-kitty! Lance wants to ask you out! He wants to hug you! He wants to kiss you!" They all sang, throwing in random, dumb lines.

A sudden ripple through the school flooring caused them all to fall.

When he was alone, Lance took a drink from the water fountain then he sat with his back against the wall. For an idiot, Toad had a point. Lance realized he wouldn't never see eye-to-eye with Kitty Pryde. _I mean, even if I did have the chance to look her into the eyes, to have her speak to me, for me to speak to her, I'd never see things the way she does. She's logic, I'm… I don't even know why I started that sentence._

Pulling himself from the ground, with a deep sigh, he continued down the hall. One of the doors had a sign that read:

Second Period- 10:15 with Mrs. Knapp, Language and Arts for 11th Graders

_That's right. We'd never seen eye-to-eye, because I see everything backwards and upside down, and in every other variation you can think of._ Out of all of the words on that paper, Lance understood that he had second period with Mrs. Knapp. If he weren't here earlier in the school year, he wouldn't have been able to decode what class this was.

Pushing the door open, he nodded towards the teacher before taking his seat, aware of all eyes fixed upon himself, the late-comer.

Mrs. Knapp raised her needle-thin eyebrows and crossed her boney arms. "Mr. Alvers, since you're late, would you like to read to the class the first act of the play?"

The play? What play? Oh, yes! The Shakespeare play! Hamlet… Wasn't it? No…

Noting his hesitation, Mrs. Knapp added, "_Romeo and Juliet_, Alvers."

Lance fumbled in his bag for the book and plopped it onto the desk. Just after he cleared his throat, Mrs. Knapp instructed him to stand.

As he lifted himself from his chair, his eyes drifted over the room and fell upon Kitty, who watched his with a fixed stare. Her face gave no emotion.

"Umm, copyright-"

"Very funny, Alvers. I said the first act."

Lance nodded his head. _At least she thinks I was trying to be funny, not that I'm really stupid enough to start reading the coverpage._

"What's his name?" Lance asked.

Everyone groaned. "Sampson."

Eyes on Kitty, Lance began to read. "Sampson says, 'Gregory, o my world-'"

"Word, Alvers, word."

"Yeah, that. Uh, o my word, we'll not carry coals. Gregory says, 'No, for then we…'"

Lance stopped, well aware of Kitty's stare. How she studied him, causing him to feel clumsy and weak. She met his eyes and refused to break her gaze.

Finding his voice again, Lance stumbled upon the next word. It were a though the word were playing a game with his mind, a cruel game, and the letters scrambled just like alphabet soup or a never-ending game of scrabble.

Muffled laughter began in various places throughout the room. The more Lance stumbled, the louder the laughter became.

He met Kitty's eyes once more and felt so exposed and small that he sat down and shut the book with his head on the table.

"What are you, Alvers, a complete brick?" One of the jocks asked from across the room.

Scott Sommers, Lance's long-time enemy even released surprised muffled laughter, receiving an elbow jab and a glare from his sweet, popular girlfriend, Jean, for doing so.

"Alright, Alvers, you can be done," Mrs. Knapp said, her voice suddenly soft and quiet.

Lance kept his head down, unable to meet anyone's eyes. His body felt as though it were on fire, but only when he felt Kitty's eyes. What was she thinking? She was so hard to read, harder than any sonnet or Shakespeare play.

After a half an hour of humiliation slowly passed by, feeling the stares of the class, Lance burst out of English and fled down the hall. When he made a left turn, a boney hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder.

"Alvers, about what happened in class," Mrs. Knapp began, her piercing brown eyes fixed upon him.

Lance looked at the ground. "Look, I'm sorry, okay?" It took him a moment or so to realize his voice was all chocked-up.

Mrs. Knapp's eyes melted. "No, you don't have to be sorry for anything." She forced him to meet her eyes. Lance swallowed hard. "Alvers, I'm here to help you." She smiled over her shoulder. "Come with me, I want to show you something."

Lance reluctantly followed, still feeling heaviness in his stomach. On the way to her office, he caught Kitty in the corner of his eye, laughing with all of her mutant friends, who were called the X-Men.

Lance had once tried to fit in with them, but it just didn't work.

He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his stone-washed jeans and followed Mrs. Knapp. _Just my luck_, he bitterly thought. _My English teacher doubles as my principal_.

She held open the door for him and he ducked beneath her arm, moving stiffly and feeling rather queasy. At her command, he sat down and fidgeted as though he were wrestling with anxiety.

She took her place in a high chair behind a large desk. "Alvers," she began, looking smart and dignified, the exact things Lance thought that he was the exact opposite of, "have you ever been diagnosed with dyslexia?"

Embarrassed, Lance nodded. "Yeah, when I was little."

"How well can you read?" She asked, face expressionless.

"Uh, at about a third grade level." She nodded.

"I know what you're going through. It's tough being thought of as stupid, or constantly telling

yourself that you're an idiot. To feel like a fool infront of everyone because you can't read." She glanced at the door. "Even having Kitty dismiss you as 'dumb.'"

Heat shot up to Lance's face. "She said that?"

Mrs. Knapp sighed. "She didn't have to, her face said it all."

Lance's head dropped. "Oh."

Mrs. Knapp smiled and touched his chin. "But there's a way to make it all go away!" Reaching into a drawer with her long, boney fingers, she pulled out a clear bottle with a foggy blue liquid dancing within it.

He could see her eyes through the bottle. They were gold-colored, unlike any shade he had ever seen before. _They have to be contacts_, he thought. Still, uneasiness turned his stomach like a tempest.

"By drinking this, your mind will be taken to the next level. You'll be able to unlock things no one has ever seen before!"

Her face drew uncomfortably close to his. "Lance, this is the answer you've been looking for. You'd be a fool to turn it down."

Gingerly, Lance reached out and took the bottle from her hands. He slowly unscrewed the cap and inhaled a small bit of the potion.

His nose wrinkled.

The door burst open, revealing an out-of-breath, flushed-faced Scott Sommers. "Lance, don't do it! It's a trick! She's lying!"

"What is this all about, Scott?" Mrs. Knapp asked.

Lance stood, muscles tensed. "Listen, Sommers, I don't need you or anyone else to tell me what I need to do."

Scott brushed his brunette hair out of his eyes. "Hey, I'm just trying to help!"

"Well, I didn't ask for your help, now did I?" Lance growled and drew the cold glass to his lips.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO~ One Crazy Night

The school's prom. It was supposed to be a big night. The Brotherhood, who were Pietro, Toad, Blob, and Lance, spent this night on the couch, watching _Tom and Jerry_ re-runs.

Pointlessly strumming on his guitar, Lance glanced over his shoulder and out the window towards where the school was multiple times, lost in his thoughts and music.

All of the extra energy flowing through Lance's body was released through rapid strumming patterns on his guitar. His teeth clenched and his leg began to bounce.

Lance stood and placed his guitar on the coffee table, for the couch was occupied and the floor was covered in sweaty clothes and Chinese take-out containers. He grabbed his old, leather backpack from the corner, slung it carelessly over his shoulder, and started towards the door.

Just before his fingers met the knob, Toad called, "Where are you going?"

"Out," Lance replied, pushing the door open.

The chilly night air met him half-way through the door, freezing the breath within him. Lance closed the door on Toad, who was in mid-sentence.

Stuffing his hands to the bottom of his pockets, Lance breathed out a breath of air, which was visible in the night sky. It seemed to drift up to the dark sky, stars burning like diamonds in the sky. Since the Brotherhood's rented condo was so isolated, the stars were by far more visible back in the corner where they lived with less streetlights than in the village.

Gradually, a faint tapping noise grew louder. Lance spun around and saw Pietro jogging towards him, a hood thrown over his white hair and shading his pale, porcelain face.

"Hey. I was so bored back there, so I thought I'd join you."

Lance merely grunted and resumed his walking, attempting to match Pietro's long legs' strides without breathing out of his mouth.

After two minutes of walking in silence, Lance pushed open the door to the school's gymnasium, his stomach doing backflips and his palms clammy. He clumsily rubbed them on his well-worn jeans, his throat dry and knees shaky.

"You don't look so good, man," Pietro commented, motioning for Lance to take a seat on the bleachers. Lance just shrugged and ran his arm down his coat's sleeve.

"You feeling okay?"

Again, Lance shrugged. "I just felt too closed up back at the Brotherhood Place, and now I walked to a stuffy gym with a bunch of teenagers dancing and-"

Lance stopped himself in mid-sentence when Jean Grey entered the room. Her presence was as though a beautiful, glowing star had fallen softly out of the sky and floated before him. Her penny-copper hair waved down to her stomach as her laugh set fire to her green eyes.

Pietro released a low whistle. "Yeah, wow."

Just then, Kitty Pryde entered the room, clinging onto the arm of the black-haired Kurt Wagner from earlier.

"Uh, Lance, the guy's got your woman."

Well, she's not 'my woman,' Lance thought, watching Kitty closely.

"What are you going to do about it?"

Lance, wordlessly, feeling a new energy forming inside of himself, extended his hand to Jean right infront of Kitty Pryde.

Jean, being the sweet girl she was, accepted Lance's unspoken request and allowed him to lead her out onto the floor.

An old but ever-so fiamiler rock song began to play, moving Lance from the inside out. As they danced, his feet hardly ever felt as though they touched the floor. If she were a star, he had grabbed onto her with both hands and she pulled both of them back into the sky, where they belonged. The world seemed to fade away from being so high above, but no matter how quickly he spun Jean, Lance couldn't help but feel Kitty's eyes glued to him.

"Hold on," he whispered in Jean's ear, his words slightly drawing himself back into reality. He rested his hand on Jean's shoulder and pressed hard on the ground.

After a moment in the air, he successfully landed his backflip and grinned for the first time that night. Glancing over his shoulder, he reassured himself that Kitty was in fact, still watching him, and rather intently.

"Whoa, Lance! Where ever did that come from?" Jean asked, smiling broadly.

"Can't read, but he can dance!" Scott Sommers' comment drifted over the gym and fell hard upon Lance, who stiffened but kept moving loosely and freely.

Suddenly, energy surged through Lance's leg, shortly followed by pain, and gravity shoved him to the floor.

"Argh!" Lance grabbed his leg, inhaling sharply. He winced and squeezed his eyes tightly, trying desperately not to groan aloud.

Jean dropped by his side. "Lance! Are you alright?"

A small ripple of an earthquake shook the ground beneath the two of them. Jean's eyes grew wide and with little thought but much effort, she tossed Lance over her shoulder and motioned for Scott.

The world began to blur. The decorations had become a haze of blue, and the couples began to fade into one. Sweat began to pour over Lance's forehead, and his body started to jump. His breathing became heavier and his eyes started to close.

Barely, faded in the background, he heard Pietro's worried whine of a voice talking to the ever-so calm Scott as he pressed his fingers to Lance's neck to check his pulse.

"He's going to shock," Scott informed.

Pietro grabbed onto Scott. "What's going to happen to him?"

"Something bad unless we do something," Scott replied.

"Alright, well, you guys figure this out…" Pietro said quickly before leaving Lance in the hands of his once enemies.

"What's this from, Scott?"

"He took the potion from Mystique."

"Mystique? Where did he see her?"

"She's the principal, Jean!"

"What?"

"He took the potion from Mystique to get Kitty to like him. I'm such an idiot!"  
Jean raised her head. "Why?"

"I could've stopped him! It's my fault he took it!"

Jean gently touched Scott's shoulder. "No, it's not. We've just got to help him before it's too late."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lance was gasping for air at this point, appearing as though the little bit of life inside of his clammy, shaky body was shriveling quickly. Scott pressed his mouth to Lance's as Jean called for an ambliance.

Scott stood quickly. "Jean, no!" He swiped her phone from her and looked into her eyes. "No. They won't understand and they ask too many questions."

Concern echoing in her green eyes and voice filled with worry, Jean insisted, "They may be our only hope!"

"They're our last resort, and we're not there yet." Scott returned to his CPR. "Alright, at least he's breathing. His pulse is a little whack, but it's alright for now."

With Jean's help, Lance's legs were elevated to allow the blood flow to pass his heart. Scott shrugged off his coat and wrapped it around Lance as Jean held Lance's legs higher than his heart.

"Scott, are we doing this right?" Jean asked, concerned.

Scott nodded. "I think so. You think they'd teach us normal medical procedures before how to expand our mutant abilities, but nope!" He hissed.

Scott resumed the CPR, and suddenly, a hot substance filled his lungs. Startled, he jumped back and realized Lance was throwing up.

Jean pressed her lips together with her eyes wide but said nothing, gently rolling Lance to his side.

"You're going to want to wash your mouth out after that. Who knows what the Brotherhood eats," Kurt, the German teleporter of the X-Men remarked, jumping into the picture.

"You can start helping by phoning the professor, Kurt," Scott snapped, in no mood for Kurt's attempts at humor.

"Oh, lighten up, Scott!" Kurt retorted, taking the phone. "You're such a party crasher."

Angry, Scott stretched to his full 6'2. "Does this look like a party to you?"

Kurt said nothing, but instead began to dial and inform the professor of their situation.

Kurt returned moments later with, "He wants to talk to you, Party-Crasher."

Scott rolled his eyes. "Jean, send him a telepathic message about what happened earlier with Lance, please."

"I'm on it," Jean informed, touching her index and middle fingers to her forehead.

Moments later the X-Van rolled into the school's parking lot, and the intimidating presence of a strong man who responded to the name of "Wolverine" met them in the hallway by the lockers.

His frame cast eerie shadows on the lockers as he knelt down beside Lance. He touched Lance's forehead and immediately ordered for him to be stripped of Scott's jacket.

"He's too hot," Wolverine stated. His voice fell like a thud, almost like thunder, but the X-Men came to realize there was a softness in his gruff self as well as thunder. "Does he have a shirt on underneath his coat?" Wolverine asked.

Scott nodded and laid Lance's coat beside him. Jean ran to the girls' bathroom to bring back some soaking wet, cold paper towels to press to Lance's sweaty forehead.

Wolverine brushed Lance's medium brown hair away from his face. "What did you say his name was?" He asked, eyes unwavering from Lance.

"Lance Alvers. Do you know him?" Scott asked, though he already knew the answer. It surprised him when Wolverine continued staring into Lance's face without replying. Finally, he allowed Lance's hair to flop back onto his forehead and said he didn't know him.

Jean, who had been attended to Lance, suddenly broke the men's thoughts. "Guys, he stopped breathing."

Scott, who had been CPR certified before he entered middle school, began his work as though it were second nature. From the corner of his eye, he saw his girlfriend, Jean, watching him intently while biting her lip as she always did when she was nervous.

A sharp sting rushed through Scott's cheek. Scott pulled away from Lance and watched in pure astonishment as Lance sat up after he had apparently slapped him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lance spat, lips curled back in disgust.

Scott stuttered for a reply.

"Listen, Bub, I liked you better when you were passed out," Wolverine, also known as Logan, admitted.

Lance raised one eyebrow, a weird trick. "What?"

Jean gently touched Lance's arm, causing Scott's arms to tense. When Lance quickly yanked his arm away, Scott's whole body tensed. "Listen," she began softly. "That potion you potion- er, medicine you drank from Mystique- er, Mrs. Knapp, that shut you down. You're a mutant, Lance, and the medication she gave you messed with you-"

Lance wordlessly cut her off with one snap from his sharp brown eyes. "Yeah, whatever, listen, I don't need your help…I told you that!"

Scott grabbed Lance's arm to get his attention, and Lance returned his action with a punch. Jean gasped, Wolverine quickly stood, and Scott's red shades that he always wore skated across the floor.

Red beams of light pierced the school's ceiling and holes burst through. Jean ran for the shades as Lance watched, trembling in fear.

Lance quickly stood as Jean slid Scott's shades back on his face. "What is wrong with you all?" Lance asked, cautiously stepping away.

Trembling, he added, "and what is it that you want from me?"

Jean rushed towards him again. "We want you to find your place."

Lance shook his head. "I'm with the Brotherhood. I don't need you."

Wolverine came closer. "Are you scared of us?"

Hardly embarrassed, Lance nodded. "Yes, honestly, you all freak me out."

"We're nothing more and nothing less than those runts you call 'The Brotherhood,'" Scott retorted.

"Scott!" Jean warned.

"What? They're mutants, too! That albino one-"

"Don't call him names, Scott!" Jean insisted.

"What? That's what he is! Pietro, the albino, doesn't his running so quickly scare you? Or Blob? His strength must freak you out. Toad! Now there's a good one! His frog-like appearance, his long-tongue…the way he eats flies."

Scott nose wrinkled at the thought.

"Anyway, why don't they scare you?"

Lance just stared, eyebrows knit together, looking horrified in the shadows.

Jean grabbed Scott's arm. "Scott," she softly began, "I think you scare him. You can't control your gifts, and they can…"

Suddenly, Scott's face grew dark and he shrunk back into the shadows and hung his head.

Lance almost felt guilty for pulling away.

"Lance, come back with us to the institute, to the X-Mansion, just for the night," Jean insisted, her eyes pleading with him and toying with his heart.

He found himself giving in all too quickly .


	4. Chapter 4

When they arrived at the mansion, Lance instructed to wait in the living room...alone.

He stood from the cushioned arm-chair and scoped the place out. Large bookshelves loaded with thousands of encyclopedias and classic literature lined the walls. Many picture frames sat in-front of the books. Lance picked the first one up.

It was the man he had seen earlier, when he was passed out at the school. In his arm, pressed against his chest was a very tiny baby with a funny-looking nose. In his other arm was a very petite and gorgeous woman who reminded Lance of an angel.

"Who is this?" Lance asked the moment Logan walked through the door. When he thrust the picture to the short, robust man, it slipped from his grasp and the glass shattered on the ground.

"Be careful, you little klutz!" Logan rebuked, quickly bending down to pick up the picture and gather the pieces of broken glass.

"I-I'm sorry-" Lance began, but a sharp glare from Logan cut him off.

"Sorry doesn't fix things!" He growled, his piercing eyes scanning the picture. When they reached the bottom, they seemed to melt. He tucked the photo into the breast pocket of his leather jacket. "It never does," he whispered softly, eyes dropping to the floor.

Lance cleared his throat to break the awkward and uncomfortable moment. "Hey, who's the girl in that picture?"

Logan lips curled into a snarl. "None of your business, Butter-Fingers!"

"I just asked a question! No need to get all huffy, Pops!" Lance crossed his arms in-front of his chest and snorted. "Are all the X-Geeks so high-maintenance?"

Logan pointed a stubby finger at Lance's chest.

"I don't like your attitude, Bub!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah!"

Just then, Jean Grey entered the room with a sense of calm. "Lance, Logan! Calm down. The Professor will be in soon."

Seconds later, Xavier wheeled in, brown eyes searching until they fell upon Lance. Xavier smiled.

"Lance Alvers! It's a pleasure to finally meet you, face-to-face!"

Lance glared at Logan.

"I'd pay attention, Bub. Your life depends on this guy's words," Logan advised.

Lance shook Xavier's hand, but only after Xavier extended his first.

"Here in the X-Mansion, we equip gifted teenagers, such as yourself, to learn how to use their abilities for good. We'd like to offer you a spot on our team. What do you say?"

"Uhh..." The question caught Lance a little off-guard. "Can I have time to think about it?"

Xavier smiled. "Of course, Lance. Take your time."

Kitty walked in the room, stunning Lance with her glorious presence. He had to constantly think to keep his jaw from dropping. He finally had seen her with her hair down.

Her straight, auburn hair bounced around her chest, shimmering in the light.

"Hey, Professor, Kurt's like totally getting fur in the drain again."

Lance caught the Professor stifling laughter. "Well, we are an interesting bunch, Lance!"

Lance, eyes on Kitty, couldn't believe the words that thoughtlessly poured from his mouth. "I'm done thinking. I want to be one of the X-Men."


End file.
